A couple of days later, the garage was quieter than usual. Carmen was back at her shop, working on the body and paint concept, and Jinx was off chasing down some final parts. That left just Erin, Dax, and Rev, knee-deep in the Skyline's guts, wrestling the transmission into place.

The R34 sat on the lift, its belly exposed as they manoeuvred the massive six-speed Getrag gearbox underneath. The thing was a beast, heavy, durable, and built to handle some serious torque, but actually getting it into place? A nightmare.

Rev wiped his forehead with the back of his hand, already covered in grease. "Okay, remind me again why we didn't just pay someone to do this?"

Dax, laying on his creeper beneath the car, scoffed. "Because we're not lazy, and we don't trust anyone else."

Erin smirked. "Besides, don't tell me you're struggling, Ryan. Thought you were supposed to be the strongest guy here?"

Rev grumbled but doubled down, lifting the end of the transmission while Erin guided it forward. "I swear, if this thing falls on my face, I'm haunting this garage."

Dax adjusted his grip from underneath. "Alright, ease it in... there. Hold it steady!"

Erin lined up the input shaft, carefully guiding it toward the clutch housing. The bolts were ready, the alignment was close, but not perfect.

"Rev, shift it a little toward me," she instructed.

He grunted, adjusting his grip. "Like this?"

"Yeah, hold it. Dax, we good underneath?"

Dax tightened one of the bolts just enough to hold everything in place. "Yeah, start threading them in. We're almost there."

For a solid minute, all three of them worked in perfect sync, securing bolts, checking alignment, making sure everything was locked in just right.

Then, finally... CLUNK.

Erin grinned. "That's it. It's in."

Rev let out an exaggerated sigh of relief, dramatically falling onto his back. "Thank God. I was about three seconds from quitting mechanics forever and taking up surfing."

Erin raised an eyebrow. "You? Surfing?"

Dax chuckled, rolling out from under the car. "Yeah, I don't see that working out."

Rev sat up, wiping his hands on a rag. "You're right. Too much effort. I'd just end up flirting with girls on the beach instead."

Erin shook her head. "Now that I believe."

Dax stood, stretching his arms before looking at the Skyline. "Alright, drivetrain's solid. Next up, tuning the power delivery."

Erin ran a hand over the side of the car, eyes gleaming. "And after that?"

Rev grinned. "Then we make this thing a nightmare for Logan."

The garage was quiet, the kind of quiet that only came when the tools were put away and the day's work was finally done. Rev had already taken off, leaving just Erin and Dax to finish locking up.

Dax rolled down the last of the garage doors, stretching his arms as he exhaled. "Long day."

Erin leaned over the workshop sink, scrubbing her hands to get all the grease and oil off. "Yeah, but we made progress. Transmission's in, tuning setup's next."

Dax smirked. "And Rev didn't drop anything on his foot this time. Miracles do happen."

Erin chuckled, tossing some paper towels into the metal trashcan. As the silence settled between them, she hesitated for a second before casually saying, "You wanna come over? I was gonna make something to eat."

Dax arched an eyebrow. "You? Cooking?"

She shot him a look. "I can cook."

He raised his hands in surrender. "Alright, alright. Didn't say I was complaining." He grabbed his hoodie from a chair. "I'll follow you back."

Erin smirked. "Good. Otherwise, I'd just have to eat everything myself."

Dax chuckled, shaking his head as they headed out to their cars.

Neither of them said it out loud, but they both knew this wasn't just about dinner.